I'm a bit down today... I have such a hard time dealing with losing my pets as they become family quickly. I even had a hard time rehoming Gibbs who I had to rehome due to his temperment. He wasn't a right fit for this family due to my children. I will never risk them being injured by any animal.
Back to my emotional soap box though... It is so hard to see how many people dump or give their pets away daily and seem to not think anything about it. It kills my soul. I can't imagine just waking up one day and thinking I am tired of Abby being a terd it's time for her to go.... Or Tony is too big now- he needs to go. There are always sooo many excuses and most, to me, sound horrible. Volunteering at shelters I think I have heard every excuse, including this one- They brought in an older black German Shepherd/Lab cross and actually stated as the reason for surrender- "Moved to new house and it has white carpet. He sheds his BLACK hair all over it." As if him having a black coat caused this to happen! One lady turned in a 12 year old yellow labrador because the family had gotten a new pup and when he jumped all over this old dog and stole his food- the old dog growled and lunged at the 'new baby'. Hmmm.... 12 year old dog who gave his whole life to loving you or 8 week old puppy??? Not an question in this house! I wish I could have told those people what happened to him.... He was a good old dog but no one wanted an old dog. He grieved horribly his last few days. I wish they had to watch that. We tried our darndest to get him to feel loved while there but he just existed.... I wanted to take him home but I was losing the battle with my own elderly dog at the time and fighting to keep her healthy and more importantly happy in her final months. I don't understand abandoning animals who have loved you their whole lives when they are fading away. Why do people feel the need to dump a supposedly loved one when they become harder to care for? And then I've heard the selfish reasons for turning them in- 'We couldn't watch him/her go downhill. He/she used to be so active.' My god, grow a backbone. Stick with the animal who stuck with you through all your crap. When it came time for me to release my GSD from suffering I didn't cop out although it would have been easier on my at that moment to walk out of the room. No, I stayed with her til the end and beyond that because she had done that for me and 'her kids' all her life. I cried buckets that day and still do when I see her tribute frame hanging up. I kiss her pic good night nearly every night since she's been gone. Never could I have dumped someone so precious to me. Someone who had loved my children as much as I. I just don't understand it.
The reason I am on this rant is because the neighbors dog hadn't been outside recently so when I saw them today I asked them about him and they said they had taken him to the pound. He is a 14 year old black lab. I know his fate... and am sickened and saddened by their lack of concern. He had been with them for 13 of those years and they threw him away because he had been having trouble getting to his feet and urinated in the house a couple of times the past 2 weeks. Grrrr..... How infuriating!